What Women Want In Their 40s

Casey Wonnenberg reports:

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Over the past few decades, women have become increasingly focused on their careers. Having a satisfying job can play a big role in your overall happiness but making a change in your career isn't always easy.

That's one of the hot-button issues women identified during our What Women Want roundtable discussion.

As Jo Hausman works from her desk at home as a virtual assistant, the Brandon woman has a constant reminder that life is not so constant. She's posted a sign saying: "Each day is a gift. Never ever give up."

"'Cause each day is a gift; we just never know," Hausman said.

Hausman's first major life change came at 11-years-old when her father died.

"It was hard but I also saw the strength my mom had to raise us kids the way her and my dad wanted to," Hausman said.

It was strength Hausman would need herself in 2010. The same summer her son Cody graduated from high school and left home, Hausman suffered another tragedy; her husband died from liver disease.

"And then all of a sudden I was alone and working from home," Hausman said.

After dealing with the pain, Hausman started finding happiness in remodeling her home. That's also how she met her current boyfriend Carl Brakke. She also decided to make a change in her career and went back to school to get her Masters of Business Administration.

"That felt good and that was fun. Once I did those I was more settled and I felt better about things because I knew it was a different time in my life and it was time to move on," Hausman said.

While Hausman is used to change and doesn't necessarily fear it anymore, it can be scary for many people.

"Sometimes during change it can be really, really hard and not something we want to do, especially if it's forced upon us or it's something we're going through that we didn't choose," Sanford Healthy Lifestyle Coach Shelly Hoefs said.

Hoefs says if you're thinking about a change in your career, you should consider several things. First, find out why you want to make a change, look for your passion, consider your strengths and weaknesses, and then take small steps towards your goal.

"Step back and look at what's each individual action that I'm going to do, the step rather than that overwhelming picture of I have to get from A to Z, and all of this is going to happen in between," Hoefs said.

Right now Hausman is searching for her next change. She's looking at either expanding her virtual assistant business or becoming more of a consultant.

"Now I'm in my 40s, and I can really tell I'm in my 40s-mid-life crisis; I don't know what it is. It's time for some changes and I'm going to make them. I'm just weighing the pros and cons of what I'm going to do," Hoefs said.

That's because Hausman knows that while a career change can be exciting, it can also be stressful.

Managing a career is just one of the issues we're talking about as part of our What Women Want series.

We're also focusing in on finding personal time, balancing time among different relationships, and dealing with change.